Drabbles and other ultra shorts
by Onkoona
Summary: This is my continuing collection of Hikaru no Go drabbles. Ratings will vary, as will the themes and the pairings or lack of same. I will continue to add more, as I write them. Most were written after prompts. Squee!
1. Lady Kuwabara

_(Hikaru no Go and its characters belong to their makers, I'm just borrowing them for a while.)_

oXoXo

**Lady Kuwabara**

_from drabble challenge prompt _from lacygrey_: Fem!Kuwabara_

When she walks into a room you can see she had been a beauty half a century ago. Now she was just a little old lady with a tongue as sharp as her mind.

Oh, she has her friendly grandma moments - with smiles and lollipops - but the boys and girls of the insei program are not fooled for more than one minute. They know her for the threat she poses, when they will become Pros.

Each year she'd be some unfortunate new Pro's Shinshodan partner. And the survival chances of this poor unfortunate child would not be good.

oXoXo

_exactly 100 words!_


	2. Yakuza Girl

**Yakuza Girl**

_from qem_chibati's prompt:_  
><em>Nase becomes leader of a Yakuza gang.<em>

She laid her black stone; effectively cornering her enemy, cutting off is last opening. She knew his low ability at Go would lose him the game but she also knew he d be desperate enough to want to play it out to the bitter end. More fool he.

The tiny four-shooter gun sat snugly inside her bra, just waiting to be used. And oh, how she wanted him to make it necessary to use it.

Yes, she d beat him at Go and take his turf. And if he resisted she d take his life too.

No-one mistreated her Isumi but she herself!

oXoXo

100 words exactly!


	3. Go stone hunt – nudge nudge, wink wink

**Go stone hunt nudge-nudge, wink-wink**

_From hostilecrayon's promt:_  
><em>Sai really, really doesn't want to know. Really.<em>

"Sai, honestly, I was just picking up the stones that had rolled under the table."  
>"Together with Touya-kun? Then why did it take so long?"<br>"They had rolled all the way into the corner; some were caught in the floor boards."  
>"But why did you pull down the table cloth?"<br>"Uh, we thought we could find them better in the dark."  
>"Why did you take a wine bottle and two glasses?"<br>"For solace...?"  
>"And why didn't you let me help you look; I can get to places no-one else can!"<br>"I, uh, didn't want to, uh, have an unfair advantage...?"

100 words exactly!


	4. I have a little list

**I have a little list**

_Drabble after Qem's prompt: Vampire Touya!_

It is a matter of elimination really.

- Shindou is his rival.  
>- Ogata is his teacher.<br>- His father is, well, his father.  
>- Nase is, urg, a girl.<br>- Waya is just urg.  
>- Morishita is just too much like his father.<br>- Kuwabara would be too stale.  
>- Kurata, too fat.<p>

So, that really only left Isumi, Shinichiro, 2-dan. He's young, healthy, lean, moderately talented. Not that that mattered right now. Right now, young and healthy are what's important, keep your mind on the subject!

Touya Akira, 5-dan Go Pro, dons his midnight cloak and mask and steps out his 5 story high bedroom window. There'd be a good night's hunting tonight!

oXoXo

_darn: more than 100 words!_


	5. Son in law Isumi

**Son-in-law Isumi?**

_Prompt from __qem_chibati__: "Isumi/Nase - ultimate catch" _

Drat! Mum saw Isumi-kun. And now she's got all kinds of stupid ideas in her head.

Last week she made me take him a bento that turned out to have pink hearts all over it. I could just have died!

Now yesterday, she contrived to be around the institute just as I was getting my tutoring session from Isumi-kun. And she just stood there and gushed about wedding ceremonies! ARG!

/sigh/ I wish I could get it through her head that Go is all we really have in common. And that we only want to play together, not live together…

xOxOx

_100 words exactly (including the title)!_


	6. Listen little kitty

**Listen, little kitty**

_prompt by hostilecrayon: Isumi and his cat._

Isumi had had to moved out to live on his own. His family's home was situated way out in the outer suburbs of Tokyo. It made sense because his father, three brothers and lone sister all worked at the sewing machine plant nearby.

The commute to the Go institute was close to a murdering 2 and a half hours. And while Isumi had been an insei he had just put up with the inconvenience, but once he became a working Pro, it became impossible. So with a heavy heart, he had moved out.

It was his sister who had realized his loneliness and had given him the kitten. And now, every night he got home he told the calico kitten all about his day, like he used to do at home.

oXoXo


	7. Whoosh!

**Whoosh!**

_From the prompt by hostilecrayon: "Isumi/Waya/Touya/Shindou - All things aside, it really felt quite natural."_

Honestly, they hadn't known he was going to be there. If they had, they might have skipped coming all together, or at the very least, would have kept to the far side of the space.

But as it was, they hadn't and they didn't. And possibly the temptation would have been too great anyway. So you could say what happened was kinda inevitable.

Viewing the incident in hind sight, you could probably pinpoint the blame for coming up with the idea of all of them going down together to Waya and/or Hikaru; Isumi being far too sensible for such notions.

So down they went. Down the biggest water-slide in history. (Or at least in the history of luxury hotels that host Go conventions). And upon their very forceful ejection from the end of it into the paddling pool, all three collided with a very surprised Touya, decked in a red speedo and goggles. Once the arms and legs were untangled, a water battle ensued with no one taking sides.

It was Touya's mum who couldn't stop giggling for the rest of the day, after witnessing the event from the side of the pool. She decided not to tease her son too much about it; she was rather glad that he turned out to be normal boy after all.

xOxOx


	8. Going Up

**Going Up!**

_Hostilecrayon's prompt: "Isumi gets stuck in an elevator with Touya Akira."_

It was on the day of his Meijin Tournament prelim game against the other pro that the elevator broke down, with both of them on board. Isumi tried to keep his already unsteady nerves down by reminding himself that the lift broke down at least once a day and was usually fixed within 5 minutes.

He glanced at the other occupant of the lift; Touya Akira. The younger man looked bored, his eyes cold, staring straight at the closed doors. Isumi envied him his cold demeanor; he wished he could feel so cool under the pressure of the knock-out prelims.

Isumi had very seldom seen Touya being anything other than icy calm. The only times he was not was when he was playing Shindou and then he was usually angry.

Isumi even envied him his anger. It was an anger that spoke of a love for Go, a passion to be the best. Isumi wanted that passion, wanted that force of will. But he was well aware that he just didn't have it in him. And unconsciously he knew he had already lost the game that awaited them at the top of the building, before he had even laid the first stone, because of that lack.

The lift jarred back into motion and took them up to meet in 'battle'.

xOxOx

**Going Up! (part 2)**

_(I really couldn't let it end there!)_

As the lift came to screeching halt, the doors opened and both Pro players stepped out into the hallway. It was then that Isumi heard the sound of laughter and when he looked in that direction he saw Waya, Shindou and Nase waving him over.

He spared a quick glance at his opponent for the day before heading down the hall to meet the merry group. Greetings were exchanged and mock insults too and before Isumi knew it they all had to go inside to start the games.

Before moving off to his assigned seat Waya pushed something into Isumi's hand. Isumi was seated before he had a chance to look at it. It was a photo of Touya, one of his publicity stills. But Waya had made some additions to it with felt-tip pen; pigtails, ribbons, hearts and over done eyelashes. Underneath it said 'Just imagine him naked'.

Isumi smiled and quickly stuffed the mutilated picture into his pocket. He realized did have something Touya didn't have: friends to make him laugh in the face of adversity.

oXoXo

_Please review!_


	9. Spelbräde Bookcase

**Spelbräde Bookcase**

_Prompt by benebu: "IKEA's instructions leaflets, confusing in any langage you read them."_

It was supposed to be a bookcase; a nice, square red bookcase with white shelves, carefully picked out by Isumi on the website for its esthetically clean lines and very reasonable price.

Isumi had asked a former class mate from Junior High, who had his own delivery truck, to help him get it home. And then he put the planks, still wrapped in its cardboard and plastic, in his hallway next to the cans of red and white paint, before going off to the Seijin No Hi festival with the ex-insei class.

It was some days later that he got an answer to his panicked e-mail to Ikea's head office.

"We regret to hear that your bookcase has turned out to be a Goban. We are not quite sure what a Goban is but we feel confident that following the instructions would not have produced such a result. Just to be on the safe side we have added a new set of instructions for your bookcase. We suggest dismantling what you have and start from scratch. If any of the small hardware has been lost, replacements can be had at the shop or online. Yours sincerely."

Isumi really couldn't blame them for that answer, really he couldn't. Nor did he correct their mail; he had not one but two red and white Gobans. What he could do was make sure that Shindou and Waya NEVER AGAIN came back to his new flat, wanting to be helpful decorating his new flat, after getting totally sauced first!

With this resolution he sat back on his cream white couch and looked at his freshly painted walls. Why, oh why had he insisted on a red and white theme? A vast expanse of bright and cheerful pink greeted him where ever he looked.

xOxOx


	10. Practical matters

**Practical matters**

_Hostilecrayon prompt: The Hand of God is all well and good, but Isumi plays for more practical reasons._

_(This set in the same Isumi back-story as "Listen, Little Kitty")_

Isumi had always been a practical boy. When he was an insei he lived at home and communed into town each Sunday. When he still hadn't attained pro status but was too old for insei class he took the opportunity of staying at the Chinese Go institute with both hands. And when he became working pro he moved into a shoebox apartment in the cheaper end of town, but still close enough to make the travel time to his clients and the Go institute doable.

Practical, yes, and self-reliant. Also without any family burdens, after all, everybody in his family was employed at the sewing machine factory, so no worries there. Yes, no worries, until that day in February that The Big One hit.

No one was hurt at the sewing machine factory and the building had survived the earthquake well enough. Not so the factory machinery. What with the continuing economic crisis in Japan of the last 20 years, the machines had not been replaced with newer ones in years and the shaking had been the last straw; the factory had had to close its doors. And the members of the Isumi family were now all out of a job. The only one employed was Isumi himself.

Reading the letter from his family had been the hardest thing he had ever done. And it made him cry the way they never once asked him to come back and help out or even for any monetary aid. No, all they wrote was how it would all be all right and that brother Jiro had found a part time job in the municipal sewage plant. And that Isumi's mother had changed her sewing hobby for a job in a low end clothing store that also offered mending services. And that they were very sure the others would find great jobs soon.

Isumi had always had a plan with his Go career. Reaching the Hand of God, yes, as a metaphor for creating a very well played game. He never had believed in fairytales; he was just a bit too practical for that. What he had envisioned was a nice and slow build-up to attain the wisdom and experience to create at well played game at such a moment he could win a title with it. He had planned to play in the _Oteai_ until he had reached at least the 4th dan level before even thinking about entering a tournament.

But now all he could think was that a Go pro gets paid a standard fee per official game, win or lose. Losing would only mean he would not get a chance to play another game in that particular tournament for another year. Of course he fully planned to win. Or try to anyway.

So, the next Monday, with hands shaking, he turned in his filled out forms for the prelims for the _Kisei, Meijin, Honinbo, NEC, Tengen, Oza, Judan, Gosei_ and _NHK_ tournaments.

And when he got home he decided to name his cat _Gambatte_.


	11. Mr Cool Dude

**Mr. Cool Dude**

_Prompt by hostilecrayon: "Waya thinks he's slick, but Isumi's known all along."_

It was the night that Waya and Isumi had unexpectedly gotten roaring drunk. Not that they would get roaring drunk 'expectedly' much either, no, don't think that! But they would try to avoid getting drunk on nights before important games and stuff like that.

But that night they had. And Isumi, who was marginally the lesser drunk of the two, ended up hauling a softly snoring Waya up the 3 flights of stairs to Waya's tiny shoebox apartment. 'Trustworthy, dependable Isumi,' Isumi grouched under his breath. 'Always there to pick up the pieces. Literally,' he added as he hoisted Waya up a bit, because he'd started slipping.

Isumi managed to get them though the door and then, without tripping over the coffee table much, he plunked Waya on his own bed. Isumi had stayed over at Waya's many times before, so had no trouble to find the guest bedding. Well, almost no trouble; he'd opened the left hand door of the inbuilt storage instead of the right. And that's when it happened.

Isumi staggered back as reflex when it looked like a whole wall of pink and white fluff came at him. As it fell, Isumi automatically caught it and quickly realized that he was holding the biggest pink fluffy stuffed toy rabbit in the world, complete with floppy ears and a lacy dress with ribbons!

He decided to put the toy back where it came from. Isumi had always known Waya was a softy at heart. But as he stuffed the toy back in the closet and couldn't help running his hands over the soft pink fake fur, he realized he hadn't know quite who much of a softy.

xXxXx

_Okay, this is the last one from the Isumi Drabble fest. Ahw! _


	12. Family

**Family **

_(after the promt: What do you think of Yashiro's relationship with his dad - and how hard do you think it is for Yashiro to pursue his dreams anyway?)_

Kiyoharu Yashiro had always been proud to be part of the Yashiro family. He was proud of his dad, who was the manger of a medium sized tea company and he was proud of his mom, who did volunteer work at a women's league for homeless children. He was proud of his older sister, who had, after many tries, found a very solid man to marry and who was now rearing three very sweet daughters and one cheeky son. He was especially proud of his much smaller brother, who had miraculously survived leukemia at age 7 and had managed to catch up the year he had been out of school within two years.

He was proud of all of them. And it broke his heart that his dad felt he could not be proud of his Go playing son. Being a Pro or not seemed to make no difference in his dad's estimation; he had told his son point blank, when Kiyoharu set off to go to Tokyo to train for the North Star Cup, that grown-ups don't play games for a living. Kiyoharu's mom had sided with her husband, as was her duty as his wife. Kiyoharu's siblings didn't seem to grasp how important his Go career was to him, so he got no support there either. Except for his sister, who merely said, 'as long as it makes you happy.'

But, for all the love and pride Kiyoharu felt for his family, he would not, could not give up his Go ambitions. And so, with a painful heart, he chose to defy his dad's wishes and pursue his dreams of Go.

_(233 words, not including the title)_


End file.
